Glory Kickboxing has one last event lined up for 2016, and it looks to be a big one. And unlike most cards, it won’t just be Glory 36 Germany, and a “Superfight Series” card, but a PPV event as well. The PPV will feature heavyweights Rico Verhoeven vs. Badr Hari, alongside a welterweight title bout between champion Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken and Cedric Doumbé of France. GLORY: COLLISION will also see the organization crown its first female champion as the Women’s Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix comes to a conclusion.
The Glory 36 card will feature a lightweight title clash between Thailand’s Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (112-29-5, 30 KO’s), defending, and Marat Grigorian (48-9-2, 29 KO’s), from Armenia by way of the Netherlands.
The women’s Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix will start on the Superfight Series card. The tournament has played out across several cards and narrowed a field of 16 down to a final four. They will compete in a four-woman tournament at the start of the COLLISION event before the two semi-final winners meet for a deciding battle towards the end of the night.
In the first of those two semi-final bouts, Muay Thai champion Tiffany “Time Bomb” van Soest (15-2-1, 5 KO’s), who also competes in Invicta FC, meets Canadian challenger Jessica “Thumper” Gladstone (6-6, 2 KO’s). The other semi-final sees 21-year-old Dutch prospect Isis “Fight Queen” Verbeek (9-3, 5 KO’s) take on the undefeated Amel Dehby (28-0, 11 KO’s) of France.
Other bouts now confirmed for COLLISION include the return of former #1 light-heavyweight Danyo “Dibuba” Ilunga (57-10, 44 KO’s). He will face off with Michael “The Dreamcrusher” Duut (39-6, 17 KO’s) in a rematch. Their GLORY 11 CHICAGO meeting ended in the first round when a ligament snapped in Duut’s arm, Ilunga being credited with responsibility and thus awarded a TKO win.
Two of the sport’s top featherweights are also set to meet in a rematch. Mosab “The Jaguar” Amrani (55-11-4, 18 KO’s), currently ranked No. 2 in the division, first faced French-Italian Muay Thai stylist Fabio Pinca (99-25-1, 41 KO’s) in a Muay Thai fight in Bangkok back in 2011. He lost a close decision and will now seek revenge under his more usual kickboxing rules.
There’s also a four-man Lightweight Contender Tournament: former lightweight champion Davit Kiria (23-12, 8 KO’s), a karate stylist who has lately switched to training with Nieky Holzken, faces Russian prospect Anatoly Moiseev (16-1, 4 KO’s) and Thailand’s Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai (83-22-1, 51 KO’s), who previously competed for GLORY at featherweight, faces Albanian-Swiss newcomer Hysni Beqiri, brother for former lightweight contender Shemsi Beqiri.
Two more bouts confirmed are Armenian-Belgian power puncher Harut Grigorian (42-10, 31 KO’s) – no relation to Marat Grigorian, although they do train together – faces German newcomer Danijel Solaja at welterweight and Andrej Bruhl (42-5, 15 KO’s), also fighting out of Germany, faces Dutch-Moroccan debutant Tyjani Beztati (58-2-1, 21 KO’s) at lightweight.
That’s a lot of bouts to be announced in one day, but it’s a big card. GLORY events typically run two cards in one night – a SUPERFIGHT SERIES card which airs on UFC FIGHT PASS and a numbered card which airs on ESPN and other networks worldwide. COLLISION adds one more to that by way of a four-fight PPV card forming the apex of the line-up.
The three cards then look like this (below). It’s a bit of channel-hopping to watch all three but each one has compelling bouts and there is likely to be some heavy leather traded in most of them.
GLORY: COLLISION
(Pay-per-view via Dish, DirecTV, iN DEMAND (in the US) and globally via the UFC.tv digital service at ufc.tv/glorycollision from 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 10, priced at $29.95)
Heavyweight Headline Bout: Rico Verhoeven vs. Badr Hari
Welterweight World Title Bout: Nieky Holzken (c) vs. Cedric Doumbé
Heavyweight Bout: Ismael Londt vs. Jamal Ben Saddik
Super Bantamweight Grand Prix Final Bout: Semifinal A Winner vs. Semifinal B Winner
GLORY 36 SUPERFIGHT SERIES
(UFC Fight Pass at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 10)
Light Heavyweight Headline Bout: Danyo Ilunga vs. Michael Duut
Welterweight Co-Headline Bout: Harut Grigorian vs. Danijel Solaja
Super Bantamweight Grand Prix Semifinal B: Tiffany van Soest vs. Jessica Gladstone
Super Bantamweight Grand Prix Semifinal A: Isis Verbeek vs. Amel Dehby
Lightweight Bout: Andrej Bruhl vs. Tyjani Beztati
GLORY 36 GERMANY
(In the USA airs live on ESPN3 at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 10)
Lightweight World Title Bout: Sittichai (c) vs. Marat Grigorian
Lightweight Tournament Final Bout: Semifinal A Winner vs. Semifinal B Winner
Featherweight Co-Headline Bout: Mosab Amrani vs. Fabio Pinca
Lightweight Tournament Semifinal B: Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai vs. Hysni Beqiri
Lightweight Tournament Semifinal A: Davit Kiria vs. Anatoly Moiseev
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